Ride a bike, run a mile, or swim across a pool with Google Chrome.

Share this story

Google is well-known for using adorable gimmicks to get users affiliated with its products and technologies. This time, the company is showing off certain aspects of its browser with a game that can be controlled by a smartphone using the mobile version of Chrome. The game is called Super Sync Sports, and it's quite endearing—especially because it kind of reminds us of Track and Field for the original Nintendo console.

To play the game, launch Super Sync Sports in your Chrome browser and select whether you’d like to run track and field, pedal a bicycle, or swim across a pool. The browser will then walk you through the controller setup process to get your mobile device synced up. Setup simply requires navigating to that same URL on your mobile browser, then inputting a special code. You can choose from a number of characters to compete on your behalf in these races. To move the character, your mobile phone acts as a trackpad and you’ll have to rapidly move your fingers to get your character ahead of the others. If you don’t maneuver your fingers along the screen just right, your character will fall behind.

It's a simple novelty game, but its main objective is to show what Google has done with browser technologies like touch APIs, WebSockets, and CSS3. Google says it will publish more information in the next few weeks about how it built the game.

Super Sync Sports is compatible with Chrome for Mobile on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich or later and iOS 4.3 or later. If you’re feeling lonely, you can also invite up to three others with compatible devices to play with you.

Seems pretty cool. Now how about using that technology to allow us to remotely control our Google Play Music libraries on our Android phones? Google really needs to keep up with the development of this service or open up their APIs so that someone else can; I'm puzzled why an official Google Play Music extension for Chrome doesn't already exist that does exactly this.

This is actually to just get more people to install chrome which then they will be asked 12 times to make it their default browser, actually that only happens if they unchecked the default which is to make it your default browser.

When Mozilla presented that MMO-light Zelda game (http://browserquest.mozilla.org/) I figured someone would make a phone based version similar to 4 swords. No one has as of yet though (AFAIK).

But I think that the idea of making "couch coop" games which are browser based to be pretty awesome. As long as you have a laptop (or console/HTPC with a browser) you can play with your friends. Assuming they have smart phones of course, but if they don't, why are they your friends? ;-)

Ask yourself... why did Google spend all that money developing this? What do they plan on getting in return?

Anyhow, something else bothers me. What's the point of running or biking video game? Or any sport for that matter? Go out and run or bike or swim! I understand a Tolkienesque MMO or an F-16 simulator or a shooter or a Formula 1 racing game. Few of us will ever get to do that. But running? If you want to be entertained running, then go and run.

Ask yourself... why did Google spend all that money developing this? What do they plan on getting in return?

World domination? Or perhaps it's part of a plan to kill all the cute kittens in the world?

Intelligent people sometimes make things just for the challenge of the thing. That way you both get to make something (which is fun) and get to sharpen your skills (which makes you better at your "real" job), And most likely you will learn something in the process. Again, improving upon yourself.

Quote:

Anyhow, something else bothers me. What's the point of running or biking video game? Or any sport for that matter?

There is not a roll eyes GIF in the world large enough for this sentiment. :-)

I thought it was a fun way to kill a few minutes. What would have been nicer is if you could restart the race or go back to the selection screen without losing your connection. But, I'm complaining about something free that's more innovative than a lot of other things out there.

for browser apps that work together in the hand and on the screen, there's a lot of possibilities with this it seems. I've seen the store apps that give total trackpad/keyboard control, but this interesting because you could maybe assign gestures in the one chrome page to control the other chrome page, making it much easier to navigate whatever that app does (than typical hunting around via keyboard/mouse), without having to setup a pc or other device for total control.